Lake Los Angeles is searching for a...

Lake Los Angeles is searching for a new name, and a Lancaster disc jockey is lending a helping hand.

Prompted by deejay Chris Compton, listeners of radio station KTPI came up with such snappy-sounding substitutes as Boon Docks, Butte Heights, Drifting Hills, Oasis Flats and East Palmdale.

A real estate agent named Bonnie suggested Bonnieville for the Antelope Valley desert community.

This all came about, you may recall, because Lake L.A. residents--Lake Angelenos, for short--feel self-conscious about the fact that their lake is dry and they’re nowhere near City Hall.

The KTPI listeners voted on the nominees, with East Palmdale edging out Drifting Hills, 90 to 85.

But Compton declared Drifting Hills the winner, because “we kept hearing the same voice voting for East Palmdale.”

It was probably a wise decision, since East Palmdale might have been regarded as an insult--either to Palmdale or Lake L.A.

Compton, a good Samaritan if ever there was one, is also organizing a Save the Lake Los Angeles Lake Day, in which listeners will make a pilgrimage to the community, where each will dump a cup of water onto the lake bed.

This wasn’t what animal rights groups had in mind when they recently announced they would campaign for a “fur-free” Beverly Hills:

The city barred admission on Thursday to Kessia, a baby bear who was trying to trump up business for the visiting Moscow Circus.

The diplomatic snub, a publicist said, “had to do with its being a wild animal.”

Kessia, denied her scheduled visit to Rodeo Drive, was, however, welcomed at the Chinese Theater. Hollywood, of course, harbors all kinds of wild creatures.

Could it be a return to the blackout days of World War II in Bellflower?

The question arose after the City Council voted unanimously to withhold its monthly payment of about $30,000 to Southern California Edison Co.

The city, which is north of Lakewood (you can still see it at night), says Edison has failed to fix more than 100 defective street lights, despite repeated complaints.

“Sometimes we’ve got to do things to get attention, and when you hit people’s wallets, they start paying attention,” Councilman Ken Cleveland said.

It’s too soon to tell whether Edison will turn off the city’s street lights in retaliation.

But should Bellflower be hit with a blackout, would the aerial spraying of suspected Medfly encampments in the city limits have to be curtailed?

Could be the start of a new anti-malathion strategy.

Which brings us to the newest subculture: the literature of malathion.

In recent weeks, readers have bombarded The Times with anti-malathion statements in the form of cartoons, short stories, songs (“Malathion” to the tune of “Frere Jacques”), Burma-Shave jingles, and poems.

The crispest protest comes from Dan Shapiro of North Hollywood, who displays a style reminiscent of Ogden Nash:

We can’t rely on

Malathion.